Annette Kellermann — Neptune’s Daughter Acts Under the Sea (1924) 🇺🇸
Annette Kellermann has done the seemingly impossible; she has photographed an entire sequence for a movie under sea, with complete sets and detailed dramatic action and in much more realistic fashion than such scenes ever could be obtained in a glass-inclosed tank.
Her story tells of adventures of Shona, an Irish girl whose father is interested in the pearl fisheries. Within this story is a fairy-tale sequence concerning the adventures of a princess and a mermaid. All of this action takes place under water. To achieve the realistic effect, Miss Kellermann [Annette Kellerman] used a new invention, a bell-shaped cabinet, lowered and raised by cables, with a glass window through which the camera man films the action. Wherever possible, she selected places where the water was shallow, yet it had to have sufficient depth so that the sets would be completely covered.
First the sets were built and then. lowered down to rest upon the ocean floor, anchored as firmly as possible. Real sets, such as appear in the interiors taken in any studio, were used. The sets were made mostly of rocks, which helped to weight them and hold them steady. Between the rocks were fastened shells, seaweed, and other plants.
At a preview in Los Angeles, those under-sea scenes evoked considerable praise and caused much discussion as to how they were made. They are marvelously clear, every bit of action in such relief as if made up above in a strong sunlight; the undulating water, the many kinds of fish and vegetable life, the seaweed and coral — all of these add a naturalness that quite amazes when one sees the actors remain down there for such a long while.
“Our most difficult work was in matching the scenes together,” Miss Kellermann said. “The longest I remained down was three minutes and eighteen seconds, as a rule only one or two minutes. I would act as much of a scene in that time as I could; then come up for a rest.”
The light, she pointed out, was quite clear, aided by large mirrors, each the size of one side of a big room, anchored on rafts above at such angles that they reflected the sun’s rays down below. So quiet and still was the water in most places that her clothes and hair did not have the soaked appearance that is customary when one goes for a swim in the ocean. Indeed, the whole thing has a fairylike, gossamer beauty and charm that should make it a decidedly pleasing novelty.
Annette Kellermann will be remembered as the “modern Venus,” whose graceful curves, daily-dozen exercises and athletic propensities filled the daily papers a few years ago. Screen fans will recall her also, for she appeared in “The Darling of the Gods,” Neptune’s Daughter, and other productions.
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Photo by: Edwin Bower Hesser (1893–1962)
Collection: Picture Play Magazine, July 1924